# Sandy Close

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{{Short description|American journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Alexandra Close
| image              = Sandy Close (cropped).jpg
| caption            = 
| other_names        = Sandy
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth based on age as of date|52|1995}}
| birth_place        = 
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| known              = 
| occupation         = [Journalist](/source/Journalist)
| organization       = Ethnic Media Services
| alma_mater         = [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) ([B.A.](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))
| title              = 
| term               = 
| predecessor        = 
| successor          = 
| party              = 
| boards             = 
| spouse             = 
| partner            = [Franz Schurmann](/source/Franz_Schurmann)
| children           = 2
| website            = 
| footnotes          = 
| employer           = 
| height             = 
}}

'''Alexandra Close''' (born ca. 1943) is an American journalist and the founder of Ethnic Media Services (now American Community Media).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ethnicmediaservices.org/our-team/|title=Ethnic Media Services: Our Team}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sandy Close |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-1995/sandy-close |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=www.macfound.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2025-03-26 |title=PRESS ADVISORY: EMS Changes Our Name |url=https://americancommunitymedia.org/uncategorized/press-advisory-ems-changes-our-name/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=American Community Media |language=en-US}}</ref> She was the executive director of [Pacific News Service](/source/Pacific_News_Service) from 1974 to 2017 and of [New America Media](/source/New_America_Media) from 1996 to 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diversitypreparedness.org/Sandy-Close/96/ |title=Voices from the Field &#124; National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities |access-date=2010-05-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120731181656/http://www.diversitypreparedness.org/Sandy-Close/96/ |archivedate=2012-07-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Pacific-News-Service-closes-but-lessons-continue-12382326.php|title=Pacific News Service closes, but lessons continue|last=Hartlaub|first=Peter|date=2017-11-27|website=SF Chronicle|access-date=2019-04-11}}</ref>

== Early life and education  ==
Close received her BA from the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newamericamedia.org/staff.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919011440/http://newamericamedia.org/staff.php|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 19, 2011|title=New America Media: Who's Who at NAM}}</ref>

== Career ==
Close worked as the China editor in Hong Kong for the ''[Far Eastern Economic Review](/source/Far_Eastern_Economic_Review)'' in the mid-1960s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.siliconiran.com/about_us/the_team/advisory_board/sandy_close.shtml |title=Sandy Close |access-date=2010-05-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228102328/http://www.siliconiran.com/about_us/the_team/advisory_board/sandy_close.shtml |archivedate=2011-02-28 }}</ref> Upon her return to the U.S. she co-founded Oakland-based newspaper ''The Flatlands''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://sfpublicpress.org/news/2018-04/an-ethnic-media-beacon-goes-dark-but-its-creator-keeps-inspiring|title=An Ethnic Media Beacon Goes Dark, but Its Creator Keeps Inspiring|last=Waters|first=Rob|date=2018-05-03|website=SF Public Radio|access-date=2019-01-03}}</ref> She was also a weekly commentator for Morning Edition from 1984 to 1985.

In 1991, she founded ''Yo! Youth Outlook'', a monthly magazine of youth writing and art, and in 1996, she co-founded ''The Beat Within'', a weekly journal written by incarcerated youth.

She served as the executive director of Pacific News Service from 1974 to the publication's closing in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SUNDAY-INTERVIEW-Sandy-Close-The-executive-3028278.php|title=SUNDAY INTERVIEW -- Sandy Close / The executive director of Pacific News Service talks about her two decades on the radical edge of journalism|last=Stewart|first=Jon|date=1995-07-16|website=SFGate|access-date=2019-01-02}}</ref> In 1996, she founded New America Media, which involved up to 3,000 ethnic news organizations in California, and served as its executive director until its closure in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|title=New America Media Is Closing—and That's Bad News for All American Media|last=Walsh|first=Joan|date=2017-11-03|website=The Nation|access-date=2019-04-11|archive-date=2019-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102050818/https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2018, Close founded Ethnic Media Services, a non-profit agency focused on developing cross-cultural journalism and marketing projects to promote inclusive public discourse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-close-973274158/|title=Sandy Close|work=LinkedIn}}</ref>

Close was a co-producer for the film ''[Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien](/source/Breathing_Lessons%3A_The_Life_and_Work_of_Mark_O'Brien)'', which won the [Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)](/source/Academy_Award_for_Best_Documentary_(Short_Subject)) in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1997/tv/reviews/breathing-lessons-the-life-and-work-of-mark-o-brien-1117341375/|title=Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien|last=Klady|first=Leonard|date=1997-05-22|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-01-03}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Close was married to the historian and Asian affairs scholar [Franz Schurmann](/source/Franz_Schurmann) from 1968 until his death in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27schurmann.html|title=Franz Schurmann, Cold War Expert on China, Dies at 84|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=2010-08-26|website=NY Times|access-date=2019-04-11}}</ref>

==Awards==
*2011 [George Polk Award](/source/George_Polk_Awards) for Career Achievement <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arabamericannews.com/2011/02/25/New-America-Medias-Sandy-Close-wins-George-Polk-Career-Award/|title=New America Media's Sandy Close wins George Polk Career Award|date=2011-02-25|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-21}}</ref>
*2008 Ashoka Fellowship <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usa.ashoka.org/node/103 |title=Sandy Close &#124; Ashoka United States |access-date=2010-05-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725015835/http://www.usa.ashoka.org/node/103 |archivedate=2011-07-25 }}</ref>
*2006 Purpose Prize Fellowship<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://encore.org/purpose-prize/alexandra-sandy-close/|title=Encore - Purpose Prize: Alexandra "Sandy" Close}}</ref>
*1995 [MacArthur Fellows Program](/source/MacArthur_Fellows_Program)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/507/|title=MacArthur Fellows Program: Sandy Close}}</ref>

==Works==
*[http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116131003/http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/4.06/980326-titanic.html "Ben Hur" Vs. "Titanic" -- Nature Replaced God in Film That Speaks to Environmental Age], ''JINN'', 03-26-98
*"Fear and uncertainty in the era of change", ''National Civic Review'', Volume 98 Issue 3, Pages 46 – 47<ref>[https://archive.today/20130105143105/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122649706/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Wiley Interscience]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SUNDAY-INTERVIEW-Sandy-Close-The-executive-3028278.php "SUNDAY INTERVIEW -- Sandy Close"], ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', July 16, 1995
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030221121644/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/ethnic_media/close_interview.html "SANDY CLOSE"], ''NewsHour'', PBS, October 2002
*[http://chavafilms.com/marthawallner.net/downloads/pdf/AN_INTERVIEW_WITH_SANDY_CLOSE.pdf "AN INTERVIEW WITH SANDY CLOSE"], ''Chava Films'', Martha Wallner

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Sandy}}
Category:American media executives
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:MacArthur Fellows
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:American women journalists
Category:21st-century American women

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandy Close](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Close) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Close?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.